Department for Transport

High Speed 2 Railway Line

lord berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) permanent employees, (2) agency staff, (3) consultants, and (4) contractors are employed on the HS2 Phase 1 project.

baroness sugg: HS2 Ltd currently employ 1,255 permanent employees. 427 individuals directly work in the Phase One Directorate. The remaining workforce includes those working on Phase 2, in addition to employees in enabling teams that support the delivery of the new railway. There are 4 agency staff also working in the Phase One Directorate. HS2 Ltd does not hold information on the number of consultants and contractors working on Phase 1, as services are contracted through third party companies.The Department for Transport also employs 28 permanent employees and 1 contractor working in the HS2 Phase One Directorate.Both HS2 Ltd and the Department for Transport are committed to transparency and publish information about our workforce in the respective Annual Report and Accounts.All numbers are based on headcount.

Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft

baroness hayter of kentish town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ratify the 2014 Montreal Protocol to help to ensure that they have the appropriate enforcement powers against disruptive air passengers.

baroness sugg: During this legislative cycle, the Government does not intend to complete the ratification of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Montreal Protocol 2014 on disruptive passengers. The majority of the provisions within this protocol are already part of UK law, and we are confident we can take necessary action in regard to disruptive passengers. For example, the UK already has “state of landing” and “state of operator jurisdiction”, which means that disruptive passengers on any flight that touches down within the UK can be charged and, if necessary, prosecuted. No other European Union countries have ratified the 2014 Montreal Protocol.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

lord bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and to what extent, bus emissions of pollutantshave reduced in the last five years; and what reduction in bus emissions they anticipate in the next five years.

baroness sugg: Figures for buses alone are unavailable. Figures for actual and projected combined bus and coach pollutant emissions are shown in the table, where available. YearCONOxPM10PM2.5Benzene1,3-butadineLeadSO220116.5230.760.390.390.000.020.000.0220126.3227.690.350.350.000.020.000.0220136.3726.230.320.320.000.020.000.0220145.8923.380.280.280.000.010.000.0220155.0819.440.230.230.000.010.000.0220164.2614.950.180.180.000.010.000.022020n/a8.27n/a0.10n/an/an/a0.02 Source: Ricardo – AEA/DEFRA (NAEI)Units: Thousand tonnesn/a: projections not available

East Coast Railway Line: Trains

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government which organisation made the decision to order the new Azuma trains; what is the extent ofany technical problems with the Azuma trains;what plans are in place to deal with those problems; and when they anticipate the new trains will be fully operational as part of the regular timetable.

baroness sugg: The Intercity Express Programme (IEP) to deliver the new Great Western and East Coast Mainline Intercity Express Trains (IETs) is a government-led investment which was initiated by the Department for Transport when the Invitation to Tender was published in 2007. It is not uncommon when introducing new trains on an existing network for there to be some teething problems. This is why time is set aside to identify any issues as far as possible before the launch of passenger service and Hitachi and Network Rail are working together to resolve these issues with the aim of getting these trains ready for passenger service. The introduction of the new trains will deliver more seats and faster journeys for decades to come. The full benefits of these IETs will be delivered once the full fleet is in service alongside introduction alongside introduction of a new timetable.

Roads: Accidents

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whetherthey have received the road casualty data for London for 2017; and if not, when they expect to receive that data.

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so why, there is a delay in receiving full and timely data on road casualties in London, following talks between the Department for Transport, the Metropolitan Police and Transport for London.

baroness sugg: The Department for Transport announced on Thursday 17 May 2018 that the publication of Reported road casualties Great Britain, main results: 2017, which had been scheduled for end June 2018, would be delayed until September. This was due to the non-availability of complete 2017 road casualty data for London, as a result of technical and data quality issues following the implementation of the Case Overview and Preparation Application (COPA) reporting system by the Metropolitan Police Service in November 2016. The full statement is available on the Road accidents and safety statistics collections page on gov.uk. The Department announced a revised publication date of Thursday 27 September 2018 in the release calendar for Official Statistics. Officials have received the road casualty data for London as planned to meet this revised publication date.

Thameslink Industry Readiness Board

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the composition of the Industry Readiness Board which examined plans for the new rail timetables; and on what datesthat Board has met in the last year.

baroness sugg: The membership of the Thameslink Industry Readiness Board is composed of representatives of Network Rail, Southeastern, Govia Thameslink Railway, Stagecoach Group (representing East Midlands Trains), Arriva Rail London, Office of Rail and Road, Department for Transport, Siemens, Chris Gibb as independent chair and Chris Green representing the Independent Assurance Panel. During 2018 the Panel has met on the following dates: 12 January8 February9 March6 April4 May1 June29 June27 July24 August

South West Railway Line

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans exist to upgrade the power supply on the South West Main Line; what is the estimated cost of the upgrade; who willfund it; and when those plansare expected to be implemented.

baroness sugg: Network Rail is working on an Outline Business Case examining options to expand the capability of the traction power system to allow delivery of increased capacity through more services and longer trains, in the inner area of the Wessex and South East Routes in CP6 and beyond. This will examine the potential costs and timescales for implementation, as well as funding options.

Bakerloo Line

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Mayor of London about the proposed extension of the Bakerloo line.

baroness sugg: Ministers and officials at the Department for Transport hold regular meetings with the Mayor of London, officials in his office and Transport for London (TfL). A range of topics are discussed at these meetings, including proposals to extend the Bakerloo Line.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Serbia: Kosovo

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they support the proposed agreement between the governments of Serbia and Kosovo concerning mutual frontier modifications.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: As we have always been clear, normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo is crucial for the security, stability and prosperity of both countries and the wider region. The Government believes that this should be on the basis of recognition of independent sovereign nations within their current borders. We believe that calls for re-drawing national borders could be de-stabilising. We continue to support the EU-facilitated dialogue with a view to a comprehensive and sustainable solution that benefits both countries.

Turkey: Politics and Government

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any influence by the government of Turkey over the expulsion from several countries of individuals allegedly linked to the Gulen Movement; whether they intend to make representations to the government of Turkey about any such influence; and whether membership of the Gulen Movement is currently a ground for expulsion from the UK.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We are aware that the Turkish Government is actively seeking the extradition from third countries of alleged Gulenists. This is a matter between Turkey and the countries involved. We urge all concerned to observe international human rights obligations. The Gulen movement is not proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK so the issue of expulsion does not arise. We will consider extradition requests where there is evidence of criminal wrong-doing by an individual.

Department of Health and Social Care

Psychiatry

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether consultant psychiatrists who have assessed or treated patients with mental illnesses remain responsible for those patients when they are moved to other hospitals or discharged; and if so, for how long.

lord o'shaughnessy: In general, when patients are moved to other hospitals the referring consultant psychiatrist transfers responsibility to the receiving consultant. When a patient is discharged from hospital, they are either followed up by a community mental health service or by their general practitioner (GP) in primary care. When a patient is transferred to a community mental health service, responsibility generally transfers to the consultant in that service.There are some exceptions, including:- Patients detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 may be given ‘leave of absence’ to another hospital as part of their discharge plan. The transferring consultant, who has ‘Responsible Clinician’ status under the MHA, remains responsible for that patient during the authorised leave period and may recall the patient if necessary; and- When a patient is followed up under a shared care arrangement between their GP and the secondary care consultant. This is normally managed under a locally agreed protocol. There are no time limits ascribed to these responsibilities.

Drugs

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the devolved administrations regarding the supply of medicine to the devolved nations in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government which pharmaceutical companies, if any, they have been working with to ensure that UK stockpiles of medicines are adequate to cope with a no-deal Brexit.

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any health organisations in the UK, other than pharmaceutical companies, are stockpiling medicines in preparation fora no-deal Brexit.

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government whetherNHS organisations, GPs, community pharmacies and other service providers have been asked to stockpile medicine in the event of a no-deal Brexit; and if not, why not.

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatsteps they are taking to ensure that over-the-counter medicines will be available from local pharmacies and other retail outlets in the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

lord o'shaughnessy: On 23 August 2018 the Department published an open letter online to all pharmaceutical companies asking them to ensure that United Kingdom stockpiles of medicines are appropriate to cope with potential delays at the border that may arise in the event of a no-deal Brexit. A copy of the letter is attached.At the same time the Department also wrote to pharmaceutical companies that supply the UK with prescription-only-medicines and pharmacy medicines from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area (EEA), asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the UK, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019. The Department also asked those suppliers to indicate how they propose to ensure continuity of supply of their products to the National Health Service as part of the Department’s contingency programme. We are unable to provide the names of these companies as this information is commercially sensitive.General sales list (over-the-counter) medicines were not included in the Department’s request to suppliers to indicate their contingency plans to us, and therefore are not currently formally part of our contingency programme. We have, however, encouraged all medicines suppliers to the UK with a EU/EEA touchpoint to stockpile or make alternative arrangements and are confident that this is the best approach to ensure supply at pharmacies and retail outlets in the event of a no-deal Brexit.The Department also wrote to hospitals, general practitioners and community pharmacies informing them that they do not need to take any steps to stockpile additional medicines, beyond their business as usual stock levels, as this is not necessary due to our contingency plans in partnership with pharmaceutical companies.We are not currently aware of any healthcare providers or other health care organisations acquiring medicines in volumes that would qualify as stockpiling but we will work with NHS colleagues to closely monitor and follow up any incidences of over ordering of medicines.The Department has worked collaboratively with the devolved administrations to ensure a UK-wide approach to our contingency plans which includes the supply of medicines to the devolved nations. Officials from the devolved administrations are members of a cross-Government working group and were informed of our 23 August announcements in advance.



Letter to pharmaceutical companies
(PDF Document, 365.22 KB)

Gender Recognition: Young People

lord lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the NHS documentA guide for young trans people in the UKstereotypes gender characteristics and advises young people to go abroad for puberty blocking treatment which is not permitted in the UK.

lord o'shaughnessy: No assessment has been made of the content of the document A guide for young trans people in the UK as it is no longer current.This document was published in 2007, before NHS England’s inception in 2013, when it became the direct commissioner of specialised gender dysphoria services for the population of England.In 2016, NHS England published a clinical commissioning policy that sets out strict guidelines regarding the prescription of puberty-blocking and cross-sex hormones in youngsters. These drugs may only be prescribed with the agreement of a specialist multidisciplinary team and after a diagnosis of gender dysphoria has been made following a careful assessment of the individual, and generally once the patient is around 15 years old for hormone blockers and 16 years old for cross sex hormones.A copy of NHS England’s commissioning policy NHS Standard Contract for Gender Identity Development Service For Children And Adolescents is attached.



NHS England commissioning policy
(PDF Document, 1.08 MB)

Speech and Language Disorders: Children

lord shinkwin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation in the report by I CAN and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists,Bercow: Ten Years On,published 20 March, that local authorities should include the evidence in the report in their Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and in their contribution to Integrated Care Systems.

lord o'shaughnessy: As set out in the statutory guidance on Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups should draw on a range of quantitative and qualitative evidence of local need and of health inequalities, in undertaking their assessments and agreeing their strategies. The report Bercow: Ten Years On provides valuable evidence of the importance of commissioners understanding local communication needs, and working together with providers and patients to ensure needs are met.

Speech and Language Disorders: Children

lord shinkwin: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that NHS England, NHS Improvement, Public Health England and Health Education England use the evidence and findings in the report by I CAN andthe Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists,Bercow: Ten Years On,published 20 March, to inform their work in developing leadership in the Allied Health Professions.

lord o'shaughnessy: Speech, language and communication skills are fundamental in helping people flourish in life, and the Government is firmly committed to ensuring that those with speech, language and communication needs receive the support they need to reach their full potential. We therefore welcome the Bercow Ten Years On report and it raises some important issues. The Government is currently considering the report and will respond in due course. The NHS Leadership Academy’s leadership development programmes are aimed at all levels of leadership and disciplines including allied health professionals. NHS England colleagues already work closely with us on the Clinical Executive Fast Track Scheme and we have commenced conversations regarding allied health professionals leadership development. To date, over 4,000 allied health professionals have enrolled on NHS Leadership Academy National Programmes. The role that allied health professionals and other clinicians play in National Health Service leadership is of utmost importance and we engage with a range of professions to understand how best to support clinical leaders.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

lord shinkwin: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the publication of their response to theConsultation on Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper and Next Steps(Cm 9626) published in July, which health practitioners they envisage being part of the composition of (1) Mental Health Support Teams, and (2) specialist NHS children and young people's mental health services.

lord o'shaughnessy: New Mental Health Support Teams will provide support in and near schools and colleges for children and young people with mild to moderate mental health conditions. They will work closely with schools and colleges on establishing a whole-school approach to supporting mental health. We are creating a new role of Education Mental Health Practitioners to staff the teams. They will provide face to face, evidence-based interventions, and work as part of an integrated referral system with existing National Health Service mental health services to ensure that children in need of more specialist support are appropriately referred.There will be new courses starting in seven universities in January 2019 to train this new workforce of Education Mental Health Practitioners to form the Mental Health Support Teams. Working with Health Education England and NHS England, together with leading clinical experts, we have developed an evidence-based curriculum for these courses. It builds on the existing Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner programme which is already being provided in the universities.Specialist NHS children and young people’s mental health services are multidisciplinary teams that consist of, but are not limited to psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, support workers, occupational therapists, psychological therapists, primary mental health link workers and specialist substance misuse workers.

Department for Education

Secondary Education: Admissions

lord storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to meet increasing need for places in secondary schools in England.

lord agnew of oulton: The government has committed £7 billion between 2015 and 2021 to deliver new school places. This funding is additional to our investment in the free schools programme. Basic need funding is provided each year to local authorities to help them meet the demand for school places in their local areas. Allocations are based on the local authorities’ own data, meaning they receive funding for all the places they need. Funding is announced several years ahead, to give local authorities time to plan local provision. Allocations through 2021 have been announced, including secondary places. The number of places funded by local authorities can be found in Table 1 of the basic need allocations, which is attached and also available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations. The free schools programme is also continuing to provide secondary places. There are 131 open mainstream secondary free schools that will provide over 117,000 places when at capacity. 71 mainstream secondary free schools have been approved and are due to open in the next few years, providing more than 79,000 places when at capacity. The department is working collaboratively with local authorities to provide free schools to meet basic need. The latest data shows overall 825,000 additional places were created between May 2010 and May 2017. 248,000 of these were secondary places (including middle schools and all through schools deemed as secondary, and including full final capacity in free schools), with many more delivered since then and in the pipeline. The department is on track to create one million places this decade, the largest increase in school capacity for at least two generations.



HL10198_Basic_need_allocations_for_2021_and_fundin
(PDF Document, 56.42 KB)

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Housing

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all prisons in England and Wales ensure that those leaving on discharge have plans for suitable and affordable accommodation.

lord keen of elie: As part of the reforms to probation in 2015 all offenders, including those sentenced to less than 12 months, now get targeted support from probation providers when they leave prison to help them reintegrate into society. This includes working with local partners to help them find accommodation, which is provided by the local authority.On 27 July, the MOJ announced our intention to end contracts with Community Rehabilitation Companies in 2020.We will be consulting on introducing changes so that probation services do more to help offenders find accommodation and employment on release from custody. We are investing an additional £22m per annum during the current contract period to ensure that CRCs deliver an enhanced ‘Through the Gate’ service to offenders leaving prison. This will also include sustained support to find accommodation and employment on discharge.As part of the Government’s Rough Sleeping strategy, MoJ and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), will be investing approximately £6m over two years in a pilot scheme to help ex-offenders secure suitable accommodation upon release. The Cabinet Office has also introduced a new Reducing Reoffending Board that will work across government to tackle some of the main causes of reoffending, including the lack of suitable accommodation on release

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Councillors: Wales

lord wallace of saltaire: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total number of elected local councillors, at all levels of local government, in Wales in (1) 1988, (2) 1998, (3) 2008, and (4) 2018.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: This information is not held centrally.

Home Office

Counter-terrorism

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will conduct an independent review of how the Prevent programme is currently operating before placing any additional responsibilities on local authorities as recommended by the Joint Committee on Human Rights in its report, Counter-Extremism, published on 20 July 2016 (HL Paper 39), and since; and if not, why not.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government’s work to counter extremism is distinct from, but complementary to, its work to counter terrorism, which includes work that aims to prevent people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.Prevent is implemented in a proportionate manner that takes into account the level of risk in any given area or institution. The Prevent programme is continually reviewed and updated to reflect the current threat level and it has taken account of other recent reviews, both internal and independent, across the breadth of our counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST.As committed to in CONTEST we will increase the transparency of Prevent delivery and open it to public scrutiny. For example, last November, we published data on Prevent and Channel referrals for the first time to increase transparency of the programme, and we published further data on Prevent and Channel this March. We will continue to publish data on an annual basis.We do not believe that an independent review of Prevent is necessary.

Department for International Trade

Trade Promotion

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whereeach of Her Majesty's Trade Commissioners are based; for which countries eachhas responsibility; what are the priority countries withineach region; and what is the annual budget being applied to each region.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the specific responsibilities of Her Majesty's Trade Commissioners.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the regional strategy of each of Her Majesty's Trade Commissioners.

baroness fairhead: The Department for International Trade (DIT) has organised its overseas teams into nine regions, which are led by the nine HM Trade Commissioners (HMTCs). This provides a highly engaged overseas leadership team to drive forward DIT’s future trade strategy and priorities overseas. The responsibilities of the HMTCs are:To work with partners in DIT headquarters and overseas to develop a Regional Trade Plan encompassing export promotion, investment and trade policy.To set a clear vision and provide direction to the Department’s operations in the region.To take responsibility for the UK’s commercial relationship with all the markets in their region, working closely with Heads of Mission, DIT Heads of Trade, and a wide range of stakeholders.HM Trade Commissioners are based in cities across the nine regions as follows:New York (HMTC for North America)Sao Paulo (HMTC for Latin America and Caribbean)Johannesburg (HMTC for Africa)Dubai (HMTC for Middle East)Istanbul (HMTC for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Network)Mumbai (HMTC for South Asia)Beijing (HMTC for China & Hong Kong)Singapore (HMTC for Asia Pacific)Milan (HMTC for Europe)  The budgets delegated at the start of 2018-19 to each HMTC are set below. Wider DIT budgets also support the delivery of HMTC objectives but are not set at a regional level:HMTC regionDelegated budgetAfrica£3,685,152Asia-Pacific£9,780,451China£9,592,448EECAN£2,939,163Europe£16,050,951Latin America & Caribbean£7,438,225Middle East£5,126,912North America£10,009,920South Asia£4,073,335 The priorities and objectives for each HMTC are outlined in Regional Trade Plans (RTPs). These RTPs are currently in development.

The Senior Deputy Speaker

House of Lords: Plastics

baroness kennedy of cradley: To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what action is being taken by the House of Lords Administration to reduce its use of plastic.

lord laming: The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chairman of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf.In April 2018 the Services Committee endorsed a number of measures to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics:A. Remove water in plastic bottles from sale in catering venues– This will be effective from October 2018, reducing plastic waste immediately.B. Eliminate the consumption of plastic-lined take-away cups for hot drinks (through substitution) and reduce overall take-away cup waste– This will be effective from October 2018, with plastic-lined disposable cups replaced with a compostable alternative.In addition, Catering & Retail Services (CRS) will continue to incentivise customers to use china mugs, or their own re-usable cups, when purchasing hot drinks by offering a 10p discount on every purchase. A 25p surcharge on all hot drinks purchased in a disposable take-away cup will be introduced from October 2018 for a twelve-month trial.C. Substitute the remainder of CRS plastic disposable items– In early 2018 all plastic drinking straws supplied by Catering & Retail Services were replaced with compostable paper straws. Individual condiment sachets have also been replaced with condiment bottles. Remaining plastic catering disposable items used by Catering & Retail Services will be replaced with compostable alternatives from October 2018.The plastic tumbler cups currently provided in meeting rooms and kitchen facilities will also be replaced with compostable cups.To capture compostable disposable products (including take-away cups) effectively, 800 compostable waste bins have been purchased and will be deployed across the Estate during the 2018 conference recess.D. Substitute single-use plastic carrier bags in Retail Services with carrier bags made from paper– The current plastic carrier bag stock is being depleted and alternative bags made from paper (using material from responsibly-managed, FSC-certified forests) have been identified as a replacement.The following additional measures are being taken:The development of a ‘green’ stationery catalogue, to reduce the consumption of single-use avoidable plastics in stationery purchasing (implementation anticipated for October 2018);The development of a pilot for a re-usable packaging ‘totes’ scheme at the Off-Site Consolidation Centre for all deliveries (implementation anticipated for January 2019); andThe development of procedures for incorporating the environmental impact of packaging into the weighting of relevant procurement and tender exercises (implementation anticipated for November 2018).